Antidepressants Prove Addictive to Some

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Comments

  • shiraz wrote:
    Is it that easy to have someone forced into an institution/take drugs? I mean, you sound as if it almost the first choice for someone with some mental problem, and I really hope this is not the case in the US.


    Where I live, in PA, there is a 3 strikes policy. You end up in the psych unit a third time, you are shipped north, to the state mental hospital. I live in a small rural community, controlled by one provider, and consumers are known here and have been treated this way for years. It's called 302ing.

    I know that most of us don't have difficulty with the concept of personal responsibility. But many consumers do. Their lives have been controlled for so long that it is easy for them to keep handing over the reins to those who are "taking care" of them.

    I was never 302ed, but I work trying to help those who were. Self-empowement can be nurtured, but it is a hard, depressing, up hill battle. And the system has all the money, and continues making that money, by controlling people.
  • shirazshiraz Posts: 528
    shiraz wrote:
    Is it that easy to have someone forced into an institution/take drugs? I mean, you sound as if it almost the first choice for someone with some mental problem, and I really hope this is not the case in the US.


    Where I live, in PA, there is a 3 strikes policy. You end up in the psych unit a third time, you are shipped north, to the state mental hospital. I live in a small rural community, controlled by one provider, and consumers are known here and have been treated this way for years. It's called 302ing.

    I know that most of us don't have difficulty with the concept of personal responsibility. But many consumers do. Their lives have been controlled for so long that it is easy for them to keep handing over the reins to those who are "taking care" of them.

    I was never 302ed, but I work trying to help those who were. Self-empowement can be nurtured, but it is a hard, depressing, up hill battle. And the system has all the money, and continues making that money, by controlling people.

    3 strikes of what, suicide attempts? suicide threats? nervous breakdowns? severe depression? minor depression? addictions? You know, my first impression of what you've told me is the system which is being used against criminals in some parts of the US, and that's not a good thing when one comes to deal with patients.

    Each patient is different, each case is different, hence there shouldn't be such uniform rules for everybody. Either way, the "system" itself need to support, stabilize, provide tools for self-control and gradually prepare the patients to deal on their own with the real world outside. I don't get it, what's in it for the "system" to act differently? after all, we're not talking about private hospitals, so the govt is paying for the whole thing. What are they getting out of extra patients = extra expenses?
  • Well, for one big thing, after the consumer gets out of the hospital, he/she needs a place to live. How about a county-owned group home? Consumers pay to live in those places. That money comes from medicaid. Then there's aftercare, which the consumer also pays for out of medicaid. Mental illness is big money. Recovery takes consumers out of that loop. That is why "the system" is dragging its feet regarding providing recovery-oriented services.
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